Over 150 passengers stranded at IGI T3 as Air India flight delayed by more than 8 hours

NEW DELHI: Over 150 passengers had to go through a harrowing wait as an Air India Delhi-Mumbai flight scheduled for Sunday 6 pm, rescheduled to 7.50 pm, could only take off at close to 2:00 am this Monday morning. The flight AI 810 originated from Ranchi, from where it was reportedly carrying 55 passengers, and was diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather. Well after midnight, passengers were told that there was no pilot for the flight.
TOI spoke to some of the stranded passengers over phone after midnight, who reported chaos and uncertainty on the flight status, even after hours of delay.
Among those waiting at terminal 3 of the IGI airport, was additional chief secretary, government of Maharashtra transport department, Gautam Chatterjee. He was travelling with his family. “This flight was supposed to take off at 6:10 pm. Then we got a text message saying it was advanced to 6 pm. Finally yesterday, I received a message and a call saying it would take off at 7.50pm. It was only after we got here that we were told it has been delayed further. The ground staff was tight-lipped about it and very uncooperative. Some were even laughing. Even after the Ranchi flight came in via Jaipur, there was very little clarity. We finally got to know that they did not have a pilot!” says Chatterjee, who claims to have called senior officials in Air India to get more information as the chaos unraveled.

Swati, a passenger from the Ranchi flight stormed out of the aircraft with several others when even after landing in Delhi at 11.10pm, the airline staff did not let the passengers disembark. The Mumbai-based MNC executive says they weren’t allowed to disembark at Jaipur either, and had to stay inside the aircraft for over 2 hours without food. Speaking to TOI over phone from the Delhi airport at 1.30 in the morning, she said: “My flight was supposed to take off at 3.20 pm from Ranchi. I had received a message in advance saying that it has been rescheduled to 5.30 pm.” While the flight took off on time, it was diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather. There was a thunderstorm in Delhi on Sunday evening. “We weren’t allowed out of the aircraft in Jaipur. When we finally came here, they still wouldn’t let us out. After a long wait, the staff told us that there was no pilot. We couldn’t take it anymore. There was a lot of screaming and shouting. Some of us came out as the gates were open for the Delhi passengers,” said Swati, who requested to be identified only by her first name.
Even though a boarding time was briefly announced at 12:45 in the morning, passengers report it was delayed even further soon after. By this time, some were trying to get their checked-in baggage back, thinking that the flight would be cancelled. Ashwin Kumar, a 30 year old consultant from Mumbai, wanted to reach his destination on Sunday evening and call it an early night. He could only board the flight in the small hours of Monday morning. “Even as early as 8.30 pm, people here had started getting very angry. Some even got physical with the ground staff. We could later buy food against our boarding passes. At around 1:00 am, one of our co-passengers called the Air India helpline and was told that the flight has actually been suspended! There is very little transparency. We were supposed to be home by now,” said Kumar. Calls to the Air India departure counter at IGI airport went unanswered.
UPDATE: Air India has issued a rejoinder over email saying: "The flight AI 810 after its departure from Ranchi to Delhi was diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather at Delhi. The flight landed at Jaipur at 2020hrs and again took off for Delhi at 2220 hrs after obtaining necessary clearances.The flight arrived at Delhi airport at 2330hrs.
Further, the flight could not take off on time to Mumbai from Delhi due congestion at Delhi airport which lead to crew under duty time limits (FDTL). Finally AI 810 pushed back for Mumbai from Delhi airport at 0110hrs after fresh set (sic) of crew was arranged. The transit and joining passengers were well taken care (sic) and were offered refreshments/ light sacks on ground.
Air India deeply regret the inconvenience caused to passengers due to reasons beyond Air India's control."